US judge orders Virginia to restore voters removed from rolls, restoring access to about 1600
A federal judge on Friday ordered Virginia to halt its removal of potential non-citizens from state voter rolls, a decision expected to restore the voting rights to some 1,600 residents ahead of Election Day.
U.S. Judge Patricia Giles issued a preliminary injunction Friday to reinstate all voters that had been removed from state voter rolls in the state in the last 90 days, finding that the removals had been in fact "systematic," not individualized, and were thus a violation of federal law.
In issuing the injunction, Giles said there is reason to believe voters were being mistakenly removed from the rolls. "This process has resulted in eligible voters having their voting registration flagged," she said.
And while Giles concurred it is "undoubtedly in the public interest for ineligible voters to be removed," she noted it is also in the public interest "for states to comply with federal law particularly the right to vote."
The news comes just weeks after the Department of Justice sued Virginia over its program, arguing the removals were conducted too close to the Nov. 5 elections and violate the National Voter Registration Act– a federal law that requires states to halt all systematic voter roll maintenance for a 90-day "quiet period" before an election.
Justice Department officials also cited concerns that eligible votes may have incorrectly been removed from the rolls without adequate notice, or enough time to correct the mistake.
"States may remove names from official lists of voters in various ways and for various reasons, but they may not carry-on this kind of systematic removal program so close to a federal election," DOJ officials wrote in filing their Oct. 11 lawsuit.
The injunction upholds this line of thinking, and sparked fierce, immediate pushback from Gov. Glen Youngkin, who has insisted the voters were removed legally and has himself objected to a court ruling less than two weeks before a federal election.
"This is a stunning ruling by a federal judge who is ordering Virginia to reinstate individuals who have self-identified as noncitizens back on the voter rolls," Youngkin said on air on Fox News Channel via telephone shortly after the judge's decision was announced.
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At issue was an executive order signed by Youngkin in August that authorized the state to conduct "daily" updates to its voter rolls.
The order allowed the state to compare its Department of Motor Vehicles noncitizens list against its list of registered voters. Those without citizenship were then informed that their voter registration would be canceled unless they could prove their citizenship in 14 days.
Youngkin has insisted the voters were removed legally and is based on precedent from a 2006 state law enacted by then-Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat.
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Youngkin previously defended the state's system, which he insisted is not systematic and instead uses an "individualized process" to determine and notify potential noncitizens that they had been included on the voter registration list, and without further action, would be removed.
On Friday, he expressed new concerns with the timing of the decision, handed down just 11 days before Election Day, and said the state will "immediately" petition for an injunction to block the order.